1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to a process and a related installation for packaging coffee in hermetic semirigid or flexible containers, by means of the use of gas and without carrying out any vacuum creating operation.
2. Discussion of the Background
Usually, when grounds coffee is packaged in hermetic flexible containers, in order to keep the shape and to preserve the coffee, it is obligatory to carry out an operation to create a vacuum inside the container, so as to give it the necessary compactness and to allow the quantities of oxygen inside the pack To be kept low, which is an essential condition for ensuring proper preservation until the moment it is used.
This process is extremely complex and requires very expensive systems, since it needs the coffee to be partially or completely degassed beforehand and to be left for a certain length of time in suitable silos.
Said degassing can possibly be accelerated by washing with gas.
After this the coffee must be packaged in rather complicated and expensive systems, since it has to undergo the vacuum process.
Although this technique is rather expensive, it is very widespread, since it allows the coffee to be preserved well before it is used. However, once the pack is opened the quality of the product falls off very rapidly, since it absorbs the air outside and quickly tends to oxidize.
There have also been proposals for non-vacuum packaging coffee, but in the presence of gas of the product itself.
However, these techniques have proved to be unsatisfactory, since it is not guaranteed that the product will remain in a gas atmosphere, because it is usually introduced into the container in the presence of air.